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KEENE, N.H. - The Keene State College men's basketball team played at home for the first time since December 8 and made it a welcome return, using four double-figure scorers to beat Castleton University 83-70 in LEC action Thursday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

Keene State: 8-6, 4-2 LEC

Castleton: 3-11, 0-6 LEC

How It Happened

Ty Nichols moved over the 1,900 career point barrier with a 24 point performance. He also added seven assists, four rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Paul Mahon had a career-high 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from deep, while Edwin Ezedonmwen tallied 13 points and James Anozie 12. Casey Belade made 9-of-13 from the floor to score a team-high 20 points for Castleton.

The Owls scored the opening four points of the game, but Castleton responded with a 10-2 run for a four-point lead less than three minutes in. It was still 14-11 Spartans after Belade's jumper, but KSC eventually retook the lead (15-14) on Nichols' two free throws at the 10:50 mark, and went ahead 20-15 on a trey from him a little over a minute later. Consecutive layups from Anozie and Nyzair Rountree with about five minutes to go in the half stretched the home team's lead to 26-17, and a triple from Ezedonmwen with 1:51 to go had KSC ahead 31-20. Castleton hung around, getting back within seven in the final minute, but a Nichols steal and dunk in the final seconds gave Keene State a 33-24 halftime lead.

The offenses awakened in the second half, as the teams combined to make 33-of-60 from the field, but the Owls pulled away thanks to a barrage of Mahon threes after an initial Castleton burst brought the visitors within 35-31. His first two triples, coming within 32 seconds of each other, quickly restored a double-digit (41-31) KSC lead. Later, two more long range makes from Mahon on consecutive possessions made it 47-36 with 16:19 to go. The Owls continued to gradually gain separation using the three-ball, as one from Prieto put KSC up 15 and, a short time later, Kyle Santoro connected for a 60-43 lead with just under 13 minutes left. A Prieto layup and two Jeric Cichon free throws brought the lead to a game-high 21 approaching the midway point of the half. Castleton whittled the deficit to 11 at 67-56 with still 7:59 to go after a 13-3 burst, but Nichols stopped that with a three, and later he and Mahon made consecutive layups to make it 78-58 just over two minutes later. Ezedonmwen's three with 4:12 to go had the lead back up to 21 (81-60) before the Spartans tallied 10 of the final 12 points to set the final margin.

Inside the Paint

Nichols' 1,914 career points leave him 56 away from tying Chris Coates '01 for second on KSC's all-time men's basketball scoring list. He entered the day second nationally in points per game.

Mahon has now scored in double-figures four times and is shooting 53% (18-of-34) from three-point range this season.

The Owls, who made a season-high 12 triples, had 23 assists on 29 made field goals. They shot 45% in the contest, including 50% after halftime. Castleton shot 52% overall.

KSC has won five straight against Castleton. This was the first meeting with the two teams as conference foes.

Up Next

Keene State heads back out on the road for a key LEC matchup with Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday, January 12 at 3:00 pm. The Owls, who will be looking for their first regular season win in Willimantic since 2012, are 4-2 in the conference while ECSU is 5-1.

Castleton hosts UMass Dartmouth on the same day at 4:00 pm. The Corsairs are also 5-1 in league play.